While Airbnb has been fighting multiple battles in the courtroom, it has also been running an aggressive PR and marketing campaign with the tagline "New Yorkers agree: Airbnb is great for NYC." YouGov Omnibus surveyed 500 New York City residents to see how the campaign is resonating with them, and to find out what they feel about the concept of super-short-term sublets.

45% of those who have heard of company agree that "Airbnb is great for New York City," compared to only 13% who disagreed. Once the concept had been explained to them even those who hadn't yet heard of the company generally agreed (40% compared to 12%), that "Airbnb is great for New York City."

Of those who had heard of Airbnb, 7% have rented out a room on the website and 13% have rented a room from somebody using the website.

New Yorkers seem to have embraced the concept of super-short-term lets: 62%, who had heard of Airbnb, would consider, or would definitely use Airbnb whilst travelling to a new US city, with 55% happy to consider the service for an international trip. If New Yorkers faced a few days of homelessness between one rental contract and the next, 18% thought that they would definitely use the service and 46% would consider using it.

The following are statements from New Yorkers regarding the impact of Airbnb on NYC:

It is a source of supplemental income (42%).

It brings more affordable accommodation to tourists who wouldn't be able to afford NYC (39%).

It enables tourists to try out new neighborhoods (42%).

However the flip side is uncertainty about the kinds of people Airbnb may be encouraging into residential buildings:

There are no guarantees as to the kind of people who would rent out a room (44%).

I don't want strangers coming into my building if someone is renting their apartment through Airbnb (27%).

Total sample size was 500 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between11th - 15th July 2014. The survey was carried out online. The figures are representative of all New York City adults (aged 18+) and were weighted by age, gender and NYC borough.

About YouGov

YouGov is an international full-service research and consulting company, which has pioneered the use of technology to collect higher quality, in-depth data for companies, governments, and institutions so that they can better serve the people that sustain them. www.research.yougov.com